The tale began with a poultry farmer’s letter which was published in Victoria’s regional Mirboo North Times on March 4.
Its author, Maureen Versteden, claimed that a watermelon she bought in May 2014 had a strong acid and chemical taste to it and she went on to conclude that drought-stricken Chinchilla area farmers could have used untreated water supplied by the CSG sector.
This view was then spread this week by shock jock Alan Jones. He publically praised Versteden’s “methodical and diligent investigations” which deemed that the watermelon came from Chinchilla.
“The problem is it’s now clear our Australian consumers are being exposed to a vile and disgraceful devil’s brew of chemicals and toxins in food of this kind,” Jones said on air.
“The melons are eaten by the health conscious and fed to kids in their lunch boxes. This of course comes hard on the heels of Chinese frozen berries scandal, only this time it’s Australian grown food that we once would have trusted to be healthy.”
Chinchilla watermelon grower Terry O’Leary, with the help of social media, is fighting back. He said Versteden’s claims were incorrect and fabricated.
In a recent statement he said the Chinchilla area only produced 5% of Australia’s watermelon crop, that its first produce was picked in December and that the farmers there have all soil, water and produce annually tested by independent laboratory, Freshcare.
“Through this Freshcare accreditation and with our customers, we have 100% traceability,” O’Leary wrote.
“So, all Mrs Versteden had to do was ask the produce manager of the store where this melon was purchased and the packaging it came in would have had the growers name, address and date of harvest on the cardboard box.
“Unfortunately, she did not do this. We also have an email that was written to the Darling Downs Health unit, which contacted the Australian Melon Association who responded to Mrs Versteden, informing her that the fruit would not be from Chinchilla.”
O’Leary claimed that Versteden ignored these facts to suit her own “made up agenda”.
“A watermelon can take on a bitter, metallic taste if it is green or over-ripe. This is what Mrs Versteden would have been experiencing, a piece of fruit that was, unfortunately, not harvested at its premium freshness,” he said.
O’Leary further clarified that none of the Chinchilla melon growers use bore water to irrigate their crops, only surface water.
“There is only 1 grower in the Chinchilla area that has CSG wells in their vicinity,” he wrote.
“The other (and vast majority) of melons are grown 40kms or more from the nearest CSG site and upstream from any activity.”
The recent focus on the Chinchilla water melons follows recent ABC-led reports on allegations of health and environmental damage from Linc Energy’s Chinchilla UCG pilot plant between 2007 and 2013, with Linc fighting these claims in an ongoing court case.
O’Leary wants a retraction from the rural Victorian newspaper plus acknowledgement that a lot of the information discussed was not freely available to Alan Jones.
